On Monday our Y5/6 Girls’ football team travelled to Didcot to play the final match of our league season against Stephen Freeman. We knew that a win or a draw would be enough to confirm that we would be league champions for the very first time.

The girls’ success this year has been built around a consistent theme of solid, decisive, quick starts and this fixture was no different. With Hazel, Ella and Lili providing a firm defensive base, Freya, Bethany and Georgie were given the ideal springboard to launch plenty of early ventures into the opposition half.

It did not take long to open the scoring.

Some excellent work from Hazel down the right allowed her to thread the ball through to Georgie, who took one touch before firing a low shot across the goalkeeper and into the bottom corner of the net.

A dream start.

And it would soon get even better.

A long ball into the Stephen Freeman box was cleared straight to Georgie, who wasted no time in thumping the ball into the roof of the net from just outside the penalty area. We were 2-0 up and enjoying ourselves in the sunshine.

Until we had a brief scare.

The opposition centre forward collected the ball on the halfway line before skilfully evading several challenges on her way into our penalty area. Upon arriving, she was met by Alejandra who grabbed the ball only to see it knocked out of her hands and into our goal. Our lead had been halved.

As it happened, there was nothing to worry about. Their goal was disallowed, the referee ruling that the forward had kicked the ball out of Alejandra’s hands before scoring. A sigh of relief.

Which was quickly followed by our third goal.

By this point, Sylvie and Issy were in midfield, their driving runs and pace providing a real distraction to their opposite numbers. This allowed Georgie to collect the ball, run into space and hit a low shot into the bottom corner. 3-0, and history beckoned.

We almost added to our tally before half time when Olivia collected the ball and fired just wide. Shortly after, the whistle blew to signal the end of an excellent first half display.

The second half largely followed the pattern of the first, with both Freya and Issy blasting their efforts against the crossbar as we looked to extend our lead. At the other end, Saule had joined our defence and was just as determined to help us keep a clean sheet.

With the time ticking away and our title victory looking ever more certain, a well taken volley from the Stephen Freeman striker reduced the deficit and removed our clean sheet.

But it didn’t matter.

We won 3-1, and our girls became the first side in the history of SCPS to win the league.

The league season ended with a superb performance and the hugely coveted reward of the league title. It has been an absolute pleasure to watch these girls develop over the year, not just as individual players but as a team, and they thoroughly deserve to call themselves not only South Oxfordshire champions, but league champions as well.

As ever, a big thank you to those who helped with transport and supported us on the day.

The team was: Alejandra M-P, Ella W, Hazel B-M, Lili F, Freya H, Bethany B, Georgie Q, Saule B, Issy C, Olivia Z and Sylvie F.